By Jen Brister

Small companies need concrete ways to determine their progress toward business goals. (more…)

By Jen Brister

Up-selling is one of the best ways that you can possibly make a little extra money with each sale online. When a company uses a great up-sell strategy, they can increase each sale made by 20 percent or more. When you have a company Web site, it's easy to have your web programmer add in a few up-sell strategies to your site that will help to not only increase your sales, but will also help your customers find other products that they might need or enjoy. Here are five up-sell strategies that will get you on the road to success. (more…)

By CC Pearce

With myriad sites designed for various music interests, it is absolutely essential for new musicians to have an online presence. There are music blogs, music videos sites and social media that all allow for a band to spread its music and increase its following. (more…)

By Buffy Cranford

If your marketing budget includes online advertising with affiliate networking Web sites, outlining a successful online Cost Per Action (CPA) plan is essential for increased profits. A CPA describes the price your business is willing to pay an affiliate marketing network for business leads. In this article we examine the basics of CPAs, pricing, marketing and successful CPA examples for getting the most out of your advertising dollars. (more…)

By Melissa J Luther

It takes up to nine “touches” to make the sale, according to leading marketing firms. In other words, most people are not ready to buy the first time they discover you. You need to periodically remind them how you can help to increase the chances they will think of you when they are ready for that next step. (more…)

By Monique Martin

An important part of any business is minimizing customer defections. It’s far cheaper to keep customers than it is to get new ones, so keeping your current customers happy is critical to your success. But, no matter how hard you try, some will want to cancel your service. Having a simple save or win-back protocol in place can help you salvage customers when the time comes. (more…)

By Monique Martin

Understanding what your customers think of your company and products or services is invaluable for any business. If you’ve sent out customer satisfaction surveys in the past, you know the value that insight can provide. Net Promoter surveys are the latest benchmark businesses are using to measure success and find ways to improve. (more…)

By Joyce V. Harrison

Do you know your Net Promoter score, or NPS? Even small businesses can benefit from this alternative to lengthy customer satisfaction surveys and a relatively new tool for predicting business growth. Your NPS essentially measures the loyalty of your customers, based on the answer to one question: Would that customer recommend your product/services to other people? (more…)

By Samantha Gluck

Customer referrals are a critical element in growing your small business. Business owners must come up with creative incentives for referral programs to encourage client participation. One of the best places to post referral program rules is on your company Web site. Online referral programs are simple, inexpensive and more effective than mailers or simply printing program guidelines on the back of a business card. This is not to say that you shouldn’t include the fact that you have a referral incentive program on printed materials—simply that your Web site is a prime platform for getting the message out. (more…)

By Janet Attard

Have you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall in your competitor's office? Or, better yet, that you knew someone in your competitors' companies who could feed you information about their annual sales, new products they're planning to launch or new markets they're planning to target? (more…)